Shin Asakura x Lu Shaotang: A problematic vacation

Chapter 6

"Boss, I'm going to call Lu awake.", Shin calls his boss who is now adjusting his hair.

 After seeing his nod of approval, Shin gets to the door and gets ready for fifteen minutes of getting Lu awake. But as he just opened it, the red-braided-haired girl already stood there. 

"What, wait Lu?!", Shin confused,  "How the heck do you get prepared even earlier than us?".

"I'm always early, and our destination today is quite large, so we need to get there early to have more time to explore it.". 

"Which place is that big to make this shocking event happens? Oh, can you stay further a little bit, I feel a bit pressured." 

Until then Lu realized that they were just a hand span apart, she blushed a little and then got to the safe distance. Sakamoto has also finished everything so they start to get to their destination - the Yuyuan Garden.

Known as one of the prettiest and most elaborate gardens in China - the Yuyuan Garden is divided into six areas with different themes, decorated with plants, rocks, water bodies, and ancient buildings from the Ming Dynasty. And if you walk a little more, there is a big shopping street that sells anything you want - from accessories, clothes, decorations, and even snacks. 

To be honest, most people don't think the idea of visiting an old, quiet garden will be interesting that much, and so will Sakamoto and Shin. However, the moment they pass through the gate, they regret it. "It was bigger than I thought" is their first impression of the place. After half an hour of discovering it, they start to think of this place as a maze. Houses, temples, and natural landscapes differ in different sections of the garden. There are also some dark corners, which makes it a perfect place for an assault, at least from a hitman's perspective.

Time flies, a few hours of wandering in the area pass, and Shin starts to feel hypnotized. Clear blue sky. The fresh smell of leaves. Ancient yet charismatic buildings. The sweetness of his popsicle. Families spend time with each other. Everything is just too peaceful for him. Does an assassin like him, who has killed countless lives before, deserve this happiness? Can he finally have a normal life with those he loves?

"Hey, where are you looking? You almost hit a pillar.", Lu wakes him up from his thoughts.

"Oh sorry, I just distract a little."

The red-haired suddenly stops. She gazes at Shin for a while before leaving a sigh:

"Geez, you look so tense. Relax, don't be a mood breaker when everyone is enjoying their life. Mr. Sakamoto has his concerns. So do I. But now we are all here in China, walking together, chatting together, enjoying our life together. So stop with that frowning face of yours, okay?"

"... It feels weird though."

"What ?"

"You suddenly act so nice to me and say all these words."

Lu pouted and almost walked away with disappointment. She isn't a person who tends to say such things, so Shin should be thankful for that. More importantly, why does that even bother her?

"But thank you, I appreciate that."

Lu paused. "Of course, you should, idiotic Shin."

Little did Shin know, a small smile lit up her face. For the whole afternoon, the trio spends time visiting the nearby market. They stop by a few food stalls and buy some skewers (Sakamoto eats 50 of them) and some traditional sweets. Lu also attacks random people as she passes by the alcohol stall if Sakamoto and Shin don't stop her in time. It takes Lu an hour to completely sober, finding herself hanging over Shin. If it is not sunset at that time, Shin can easily notice the redness of embarrassment on her face.

"Oh just a sec, I need to buy this."

Shin looks over her: "What it is?"

"Tangyuan. They are chewy rice balls cooked in sweet soup. Ahhh, the line is so long.", the young girl signs.

Seeing the disappointment on Lu's face, Sakamoto quickly sneaks into the line without anyone but Lu and Shin noticing him and then buys three serves. The two guys then try the tangyuan with Lu's look of excitement and Shin has to admit that this is his new favorite dish.

"By the way, is there anything happening? It is getting much more crowder", Shin questions.

"Um, what time it is now?"

"6:30 pm, is there anything wrong?"

"Oh my gosh, the performance has been on for fifteen minutes already, we have to go!"

Don't let Sakamoto and Shin have a chance to ask anything more, Lu holds their hands, dashes through the crowd, and gets to a big area. Millions of lanterns of different shapes, sizes, and colors are hung all around the gardens, brightening the whole place. In the middle of the crowd, two lion mascots are dancing miraculously along the beats of the traditional drums. "This is my surprise to both of you, the Lantern festival, which we celebrate for wishing luck for the new year. I hope your time in the JCC will be nice!"

Hellooo, I'm finally back from the huge hiatus :D. Because I'm not Chinese and the Internet doesn't help that much in the research process, it would be nice of you to give me some info about Beijing. Thank you for supporting me !!!